Reigning two-time world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera swapped a rally car for a Red Bull RB8 Formula 1 car in a test at the Red Bull Ring.

Suggestions the 15-time WRC rally winner could drive an F1 car emerged earlier this season while a picture posted on his Instagram of a visit to the Red Bull Racing workshop in Milton Keynes last month further fanned speculation.

To prepare for the outing, Rovanpera visited Red Bull Racing’s headquarters for a seat fitting before taking part in a session on the team’s simulator.

“We did the seat fitting for the car to check I have everything well in the cockpit for the test and then we did a morning session on the simulator trying different smaller category formula cars building up to the bigger ones. I was able to get a hang of the track and stuff,” Rovanpera told Motorsport.com prior to the event. 

“I’m still a race driver so I want to show my potential and try to do well.”

Last week, Rovanpera headed to the Austrian Grand Prix venue, where he made his single-seater debut – first driving Formula 4 and Formula Renault 3.5 machinery, before stepping up to an older-generation Red Bull F1 car. 

Kalle Rovanpera test in a Red Bull Formula 1 car at the Red Bull Ring 

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

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The Finn completed between 40 and 50 laps at the circuit where he raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux series this year. 

“It was a great day, I got to drive three different formula cars. I got quite a few laps in and, of course, the F1 was something I had been looking forward to for a long time, so it was really cool to finally get to drive it. The day went well, and I was left with very good feelings,” said Rovanpera.

“The biggest differences between rally and F1 are obviously that a rally car moves a lot more from the body – F1 is a bit like a karting car, it doesn’t move much from its suspension, but it has an incredible amount of grip – and of course, F1 has a huge amount of downforce, which allows you to drive much faster in corners. It’s also physically quite different. 

“There’s a lot more lateral G-force, the car stops much more and turns more – it feels very different to the driver, there are a lot more G-forces and the car has an incredible amount of grip.

Kalle Rovanpera test in a Red Bull Formula 1 car at the Red Bull Ring 

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“Indeed, the first time you sit in there, it feels quite different than in a rally car – you also sit in such a different position that it feels quite different – but it was really cool to get to feel it today.”

This year Rovanpera has expanded his motorsport horizons by venturing into circuit racing having opted to contest a partial World Rally Championship campaign for Toyota, ahead of a return to full-time competition next year.

Rovanpera’s circuit racing exploits have included a part campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux series, which has yielded three race wins. The Finn also contested a round of the Italian Carrera Cup series at Monza last month. 

The 24-year-old is also a regular on the drifting scene, performing all over the world, and has revealed ambitions to one day compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours World Endurance Championship event.

Kalle Rovanpera test in a Red Bull Formula 1 car at the Red Bull Ring 

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rovanpera isn’t the first WRC star to pilot an F1 car, with 1995 champion Colin McRae and nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb famously enjoying outings. 

McRae piloted a 1996 Jordan F1 car at Silverstone as part of a car swap stunt that saw then-Jordan driver Martin Brundle drive McRae’s WRC Subaru Impreza. 

In 2007, Loeb drove a Renault F1 show car at the Paul Ricard Circuit before joining Red Bull at an F1 winter test in Barcelona 2008, where he set the eighth-fastest time driving a Red Bull RB4.

This year hasn’t quite gone as Ross Chastain had planned: He narrowly missed making the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs despite consistently good results. His first win of the season finally came in late September (outside of the regular season) at Kansas Speedway — and Chastain credits his fitness regimen for his consistency, despite being out of the running now for the championship.

“We just stay on the grind,” said Chastain in a recent interview. “I still show up Monday mornings at 7:00 AM and nothing changes. I can’t try any harder, and I can’t try any less.”

A still-working watermelon farmer turned NASCAR star, Chastain burst onto the professional racing scene in 2011, working his way up the ladder before eventually breaking out as the 2022 Cup Series championship runner-up. (And architect of the wall ride heard ’round the world.) His fitness routine has evolved as the years have rolled on, and it’s now become one of his main priorities.

“A decade ago, when I first got in, I didn’t do anything!” he laughed. “I just woke up when I wanted to, ate whatever I wanted to. I’d eat a salad randomly, grilled chicken randomly… but then I’d eat fried chicken tenders on my biscuits and gravy the next morning for breakfast. Nothing was intentional.”

The same went for the gym.

“I’d go two days in a row, then spend two weeks without going,” he said, chuckling.

That all changed in 2018 when he signed with Chip Ganassi Racing, which put him in touch with fitness coach Josh Wise—a former Cup Series driver, Ironman triathlete, and now a famed NASCAR workout guru. Six years later, Chastain is training for marathons himself (“I’ve had the Huntsville half marathon circled on my calendar for 13 months!”) and has embraced the grind.

“When I was a kid, if I had to run for soccer practice, I didn’t like it,” he said. “Now, if I drive home and my legs hurt, I think… ‘Heck yeah, that was a good day!’”

We caught up with the watermelon evangelist-turned-Cup driver to talk meditation, avoiding surgery with training, and stealing lunch inspiration from Daniel Suarez.

What’s a typical workout like for Ross Chastain?
Gosh… it’s a bit of everything! I start my days at GM’s tech center, where the Wise program has Dan Jansen as our strength coach. So 7:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’m there. Monday is an arm and upper day, Wednesday is a lower leg strength day, and Thursday is high-speed running or biking for speed and power at threshold. Tuesday is an easier day—I’ll either do a session with Scott Speed at Trackhouse Motorplex, where we kart, run, or bike out back, or I alternate weeks with our mindfulness coach.

What benefits does the mindfulness coach give you?
We’ll go for a jog. He talks, we’re thinking mindfulness, meditation-style. A lot of good conversation and positive energy. That one-hour time slot a week is super important now to me to truly disconnect from everything. And when we get done, the sky is bluer, the birds chirp louder. We joke about it, but it’s real.

Ross Chastain

Photo by: Netflix

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A lot of people look at racecar drivers and think: You just need to push your foot down on the pedal. They don’t quite see what fitness brings to the table. How has working out been such a game changer for you?
It’s about endurance in my mind. I used to run triple headers, and I realized back in 2013-14 that I was not holding up in the seat very well. Stuff just hurt. My shoulders, arm—I actually thought I had problems with my elbow and needed surgery, but once I met Josh, he said, “I think your muscles are just weak! You look fit, but you’re just not strong.”

So that’s where it changed in my mind. I didn’t need surgery for my elbow that always hurt—I could barely lift my right arm above my head! I attributed it to shifting at road courses, but I was actually just weak. So he set me on a plan to do that, and I had relief from that day-to-day pain, and I felt better in the cars and trucks.

It’s all about being as good at the end of the race as I am at the beginning.

You mentioned that your diet has also evolved, from no structure whatsoever to making conscious decisions. What do you focus on when it comes to what you eat?

On Sunday, before the race I’ll have plain chicken and rice. It’s something that [Daniel] Suarez turned me onto. I was doing big salads before that—like big, beautiful salads with fruits and nuts. Really good, and kept me feeling light. But in the Cup car, with fixed belts now, if I eat too much, that fixed belt would be really tight! So he turned me onto the chicken and rice. Before that, if I have time for breakfast, it’s oatmeal and a banana.

I really do love breakfast, but I intermittent fast from Monday to Friday, and my first meal isn’t until after my workout, which could be noon.

Does watermelon fit into your diet still?
Heck yeah, man. I buy them at the grocery store on my way home and as I slice it up, I’ll eat it right then. Other times, I blend it up and have that big pitcher thing—I just stick that into the fridge and pour it out. I also keep a lot of avocados, fresh fruit, blueberries, blackberries… it’s a constant rotation. I keep all that stuff because, well, I just love food!

How do you decompress after a race or a long day of training?
When I’m done with all this stuff—all the cycling, running, my routine—it sounds so silly to say out loud, but I just want to have a beer! I’m done, I want to reward myself. I told Busch [Ed note: one of Chastain’s sponsors] that I already drink your product and will keep doing so if you sponsor me or not.

I haven’t upped my consumption by any means [since the sponsorship], but now they send the beer to me, so I don’t have to go buy it!

Bryn Lucas hosts Ben Hunt and Kevin Turner on the Autosport YouTube Channel in a new weekly fan Q+A edition of the show.

There’s a discussion on the breaking news story of the day with Sauber announcing Formula 2 Championship Leader Gabriel Bortoleto will be joining the team, with both current drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu leaving at season’s end.

There are also more of your questions in the aftermath of the Brazilian Grand Prix, such as whether Lando Norris is World Champion material, how Lewis Hamilton will fare at Ferrari given his recent struggles on track, and whether Franco Colapinto will be picked up by RB for 2025.

#f1 #bortoleto #verstappen

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Nico Hulkenberg has revealed how the marshals at Turn 1 for the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix were “partying” after illegally helping the Haas driver rejoin the race after an off.

The German spun out in difficult conditions at Interlagos and although he failed to reach the barriers at the first corner, he became beached on a crest in the run-off area, with his rear wheels in the air.

This led to the use of the virtual safety car – one which brought race-defining pit stops – but instead of Hulkenberg retiring, he was pushed off the ledge and continued.

But the use of outside assistance contravened F1 regulations and saw Hulkenberg disqualified – the first driver shown the black flag since the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007.

Recapping his race, Hulkenberg said: “I think it was going OK on the inters actually; I was in a train with Pierre [Gasly] and Fernando [Alonso] for a long time, before we pitted. So I think we were going OK – it wasn’t dreadful, but it wasn’t amazing either.

“Just after the pit stop, our race somehow… obviously it finished pretty quickly and it all went south from there.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

On the incident that ultimately saw him disqualified, Hulkenberg explained: “They [the marshals] came out, they pushed me off and they were really happy with themselves.

“They were partying and pushing me on and saying, ‘come on, go, let’s go, this race isn’t finished’. In that moment, you don’t really think, you don’t care to be honest as well.

“You just continue and you deal with the consequences later.”

The race would further hinge on a red flag just laps after Hulkenberg had triggered the virtual safety car as a deluge of rain and Franco Colapinto’s crash under safety car conditions left race control with no alternative.

Having made it to the pits under the red flags before being told of his disqualification, Hulkenberg dealt with the worst of the weather and insisted: “Definitely amongst the toughest conditions that I’ve raced in.

“Incredibly low grip, a very, very narrow window, very hard to make no mistakes. It was very tough.”

Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer believes that winning the World Endurance Championship title this year means more than his 2012 triumph with Audi.

The German, who sealed the crown in Bahrain on Saturday with Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, suggested that his second world crown conveys more prestige than the maiden triumph secured in the inaugural season of the reborn WEC.

“There is more recognition for such an achievement in today’s circumstances,” Lotterer told Motorsport.com.

“You have to look at how the championship has come a long way.

“A lot of manufacturers have come, and they haven’t come just to participate – everyone has come to win.

“The competition now and the Balance of Performance that levels the field means the execution, operation and strategy, doing the perfect job through the season, is what is rewarded.

“I would say it is quite meaningful.”

Race winners #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish crosses the line

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

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Lotterer stressed that he wasn’t necessarily picking this year’s Hypercar title with the Porsche 963 LMDh over his 2012 success with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 as a more significant highlight of his career.

“I wouldn’t say it means more to me, it’s just different,” said Lotterer, who is leaving the PPM squad for next season after Porsche’s decision to reduce its full-season driver line-up to two drivers.

“But we were quite dominant in 2012 and there wasn’t that much competition if i am honest.”

LMP1 newcomer Toyota was Audi’s only factory rival that season after it made a late decision to undertake more than a limited number of development races, its original plan following Peugeot’s withdrawal shortly before the start of the season.

Lotterer suggested that the world title should no longer be viewed as the poor relation to victory at Le Mans.

While Porsche won the drivers’ title this year with Lotterer, Estre and Vanthoor, it could manage a best finish of fourth in the 92nd running of Le Mans. 

“Previously in LMP1, Le Mans was the thing everyone wanted; it was all about Le Mans back then, he explained.

He added that back in the early years of the WEC revival “you kind of thought you’d lost the season” with a failure to win at Le Mans.

He described winning Le Mans with co-champions Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler as the “heroic part” of a WEC campaign in 2012 that included a further two victories and four podiums.

That is a reference to the Lotterer and his team-mates coming out on top in the battle with the sister Audi driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello despite the failure of hybrid system on their R18 early in the race.

Lotterer, 42, has no intention of retiring after losing his PPM drive with the end of his contract.

He revealed before the Bahrain 8 Hours that he is in talks with Porsche about a possible new role and is also in contact with other manufacturers.

DS Penske’s Maximilian Guenther finished the second day of Formula E pre-season testing in Jarama fastest, just 0.031s clear of Kiro’s Dan Ticktum.

The German posted a 1m28.408s in the final hour of the afternoon session at the Jarama Circuit just outside Madrid, which is hosting Formula E testing this week after the flooding in Valencia.

How Formula E resolved its logistical nightmare to save its pre-season test

DS Penske team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne finished the day third fastest, just 0.152s behind his new stablemate as teams get to grips with the new Gen3 Evo machines, which include all-wheel-drive this season.

Splitting the pair was Ticktum, who in the morning session had become the first driver to go below the 1m29s barrier driving for the newly rebranded Kiro team, which was formally ERT.

The second Kiro machine of Formula E rookie David Beckmann finished the second day of running fourth with a late effort that put the German less than two tenths behind Guenther’s time.

Like Ticktum, Beckmann has yet to be confirmed with Kiro for the upcoming season which gets underway in Sao Paulo on 7 December.

Dan Ticktum, Kiro Race Co

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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The Mahindra’s of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara finished fifth and sixth after moving up the leaderboard in the final 15 minutes on Wednesday, the former also completing the joint most laps on 46.

Nick Cassidy finished seventh, the Kiwi having come to a stop out on track in the morning session along the start/finish straight after his Jaguar lost drive, which brought out a second red flag inside the final 25 minutes.

The first stoppage occurred just as the opening hour of running was completed, Sam Bird having gone off at Turn 1 and beaching his McLaren.

The Briton was left down in 20th and behind team-mate Taylor Barnard during the afternoon session and some four seconds adrift, but both completed impressive mileage on 46 and 45 laps respectively.

Maserati MSG’s Jake Hughes had set the fastest time in the morning session with a 1m28.604s, which was some eight tenths quicker than the fastest lap managed by Antonio Felix da Costa on the first day of running.

Hughes and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne finished the afternoon session 21st and 22nd in the standings and seven seconds off the pace but had been circulating together for large portions to practice race simulations.

Sam Bird, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Two further days of action are set to take place on Thursday and Friday, with a simulation race due to be held on Thursday afternoon where the pit boost technology will be trialled ahead of being possibly implemented this season.

An all-female test is also due to still go ahead on Friday afternoon, with Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick and F1 Academy championship leader Abbi Pulling set to drive.